Gaza and Trump’s Ethnic Cleansing of the Century Proposal
Youtube screenshot.
Nearly eight years ago, Donald Trump and his Zionist son-in-law, Jared Kushner, unveiled the so-called “Deal of the Century”—a plan Palestinians aptly labeled the “Steal of the Century.” The so-called peace proposal sought to normalize illegal Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank, and deny Palestinians their aspirations for an independent state. Four years later, the only “Deal of the Century” turned out to be the $2 billion investment Jared Kushner secured for his new fund from Saudi Arabia.
Now, Trump is proposing relocating Palestinians from Gaza, urging Arab regimes to “build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.” He floated the idea of displacing approximately 1.5 million people—a figure strikingly similar to the number of 1948 refugees now living in Gaza.
I agree with Trump—but let’s take it a step further. Instead of relocating 1.5 million people to another location, we should relocate 1.6 million Palestinians back to their original homes from which they were ethnically cleansed in 1948, not to Egypt, not to Jordan.
Trump is reaching out to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, and King Abdulla of Jordan when he should be talking to Benjamin Netanyahu. Rather than looking far east and west, he should be looking north and east of Gaza, demanding that Netanyahu return Palestinians to their original villages and cities. Any proposal to move Palestinians outside historical Palestine only compounds the original sin of the 1948 ethnic cleansing.
The essence of the old Trump’s misnomer, Deal of the Century, and current proposal to “. . . just clean out that whole thing” in Gaza stems from the same deeply rooted Zionist dehumanization of Palestinians. Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians is nothing less than a regurgitation of the Israeli Likud Party’s racist agenda, aimed to maintain a Jewish apartheid state from the river to the sea. This idea is a grotesque inversion of justice, where the oppressed are further punished for their victimhood, while the oppressor is enabled and rewarded.
The immediate, and raw response to Trump’s racist proposal came from the hundreds of thousands who, despite immense hardship, waited in the cold to return to their homes—many reduced to rubble in northern Gaza. Their resilience and determination serve as a powerful rebuke to any plans to uproot them from their land.
This unwavering determination underscores the unbreakable bond between the Palestinian people and their homeland, a connection that endures even in the face of immense suffering and destruction. For these individuals, their homes—no matter how devastated—represent more than physical structures; they embody identity, history, and a profound connection to the land.
Trump’s presumptuous proposal is a continuation to the legacy of systemic Israeli apartheid policies that prioritize the expansion of illegal Jewish-only colonies on Palestinian land. It reflects an unabashed disregard to the rights of Palestinians and perpetuates oppression and dispossession under the guise of false compassion. Not surprising, the first two individuals who welcomed Trump’s proposals were Israeli racist ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
Like the racist Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, Trump sees the very existence of Palestinians as an obstacle to peace. This mindset echoes the ideology of the Nazis, who viewed the presence of European Jews as a problem—an ideology that ultimately failed despite the horrors of the Holocaust. Similarly, Israel’s attempts to ethnically cleanse Gaza have also failed, even after subjecting Gaza to more explosives than were dropped on Dresden, Hamburg, and London during WWII.
Blaming the victims only serves to deflect attention and absolve the aggressor from responsibility for the structural injustices and human rights violations it inflicts. Such a warped perspective allows Israel to persist with its malevolent policies while avoiding meaningful international scrutiny and accountability.
Palestinians in Gaza, enduring one of the most inhumane economic siege areas on Earth, have long resisted displacement. After persistent 15 months of genocidal war, during which 66% of homes were destroyed and more than 10% of the population was murdered or injured, their resilience remains unbroken. The new “soft approach” to uproot Palestinians from their land echoes memories of the 1948 Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were “temporally” displaced to make room for the European Jewish immigrants escaping the Nazi atrocities.
If there is any logic to the idea of relocation, it should start with Israeli leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir—whose ancestry traces back to places like Poland, Ukraine, and Iraq—and who might consider moving back to their ancestral lands rather than demanding the displacement of Native Palestinians from their homes.
Any suggestion to displace Palestinians—whether overt or disguised—is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, enables and emboldens Israeli right-wing policies that undermine Palestinian statehood and the right to self-determination. These actions are not only morally reprehensible but sets a dangerous precedent to legitimize ethnic cleansing under the guise of political pragmatism.
Yet, Trump’s proposal should not come as a surprise, given that many of his cabinet members openly align with Israel’s right-wing agenda. In fact, some of them appear to champion and prioritize Zionist interests even more fervently than Trump’s so-called “America First” agenda.
Like his so-called “Deal of the Century,” any proposal that perpetuates injustice cannot bring peace; it only fuels cycles of hatred and sows the seeds of endless conflict. Trump’s plan is not only immoral but also emblematic of a broader pattern of anti-Palestinian racism, dehumanization, and dispossession. The people of Gaza deserve justice, not further humiliation; dignity, not ethnic cleansing.
posted by Satish Sharma at
16:11
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